As is known per se, articles are printed in a silkscreen printer machine in a printing station by pressing a wiper blade against a silkscreen texture, the texture being squeezed between the article and the blade.
While printing flat articles, such as compact disks, telephone cards, or solar cells, the articles for printing are placed on a turntable suitable for transferring them between various processing and printing stations.
In conventional manner, the printing station comprises a support structure, a screen support secured to the structure, and a blade-carrier carriage mounted on a support beam secured to the support structure and extending along a side face of the screen support.
The blade-carrier carriage is guided in translation on the support beam so as to enable the screen to be wiped by the blades. During the displacement of the blade-carrier carriage, the pattern for printing is pressed against the article by the blade pressing against the mesh of the screen and by said mesh coming into contact with the surface of the article for printing.
Such a printer machine is described in particular in patent document FR 2 666 050. In that document, the side face of the screen support is secured at two points to the support beam. The screen support is cantilevered out from the support structure over the turntable and thus over the article for printing.
Nevertheless, it has been found that the printing of the pattern on the article is not uniform. Such a printer machine therefore cannot be used for printing that requires printing of great precision, as is the case for printing solar cells where precision of one hundredth of a millimeter is required.